John george stephens



No. 283,161. VPatented Aug. 14.1883.

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UNITED STATES PATENT i EEICE.

JOHN GEORGE STEPHENS, or BROOKLYN, ASSIGNOR To `OHA `or NEw YORK, N. Y.

FIBER FOR `UPHOLSTERY PURPOSES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent VNo. 283,161, dated August 14, 18,83.

Application filed July 19,1882. (Specimens.)

\ `1o being natural vegetable ber or animal-hair i curled, rubbed, pressed, and xed or set in the curled form by the effect of heat, rubbing, pressure, and coiling around a mandrel, the bers being xcd and permanently set subi 5 stantially in the form of concentric rings or curls, as distinguished from spiral coils of th roped bers. d d i Fiber twisted by the roping process has to be 'moistened and twisted in the moistencd i I,lo state, to `enable it to `take the set of the twist i so as to retain the curl after being picked apart. Thelong time required to dry it in 1 the damp twisted state is damaging to the ber, A

and the twisted coils are difficult to pick and n damaging to the ber. y The crimped ber is` better; but froml the short time that it is sub ject to the pressure in the crimpingfrolls and the lack ofrubbing action during such pressure, such ber fails of the requisite stiffness,

i 3o permanence of the set, andrigidity of the ber desirable for the betterqualities of uphol- Stery goods. I therefore propose to make ber for such purposes that is curled instead of twisted, as by theropingprocess, or crimped,

`3, 5 as by the crimpingl process, and that is set in the curls for stiness thereof and'for stiffness in the ber by rubbing and pressure and heat in the curling process, the said curled, rubbed, and pressed ber being much more permanent li 4o in the curls and in the stiffness ofthe ber itself than any now in use;

The superiority of my improved manufactured ber, as compared with the crimped berheretofore prepared by me, consists in the greater rigidity, more permanent set, and; yhigher polish imparted to it by the 'longer re-` i i tention of it inthe form in which it is shaped by the `devices employed therefor, andv by the y longerand more efcient heating to which it 5o subject, and it is by these properties thatit maybe distinguished from such ber and also from hair curled by the roping process, which,

besides beingless rigid in the set, is softer in the ber and `lacking in the polish imparted to my ber by the pressure, heat, and rubbing. My improved ber is also distinguished from shredded or articial ber which has been RLEs v. WARE,

curled by roping, in that it consists of natural the cocoon-shaped bunches of Figs. 3 and 4 as Hthey come from the machine.

I employa steam or gas heated rotary spindle, a, preferably a little conical in form, a steam-heated rubbing-trough, b, feeding-rollers c, and any suitable chute,l d, through which I run the ber e, coiling it on the spindle, beginning at the point -and moving the chute d slowly along the rodsf to the base or bearing supports of the spindle,` so that it draws and winds the bers snugly around it, and rubs them over the surface of the trough b for a sufcient length of' timeto thoroughly smooth, stiften, and set the bers and the coils. When the coil has accumulated and has been rubbed and heated sufficiently, the feedfrollers are made to stop, and by a suitable contrivance the coil or bunch y is stripped off from the end of the spindle, and the feed-rollers and chute are shifted back to the point for repeating the operation.

Crimped ber lacks set, because in the crimping process the bers cannot be retained long enough in contact with the crimping-rolls to enable the heat and pressure to take sufficient effect.' By the continuous action of the pressing, rubbing, and heating devices which this method affords, the product becomes essentially different from any Fig. 2 isa plan view of the said ap- 7O of the said improved ber when picked from the permanency of the other, by the hardness and stiffness imparted to the ber, stiffness of the coils, and especially the smoothed and polished surface of the fiber.

to be picked Ver`y rapidly and without dam- I5' age to the fibers by hand.

Vhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

Natural fibers of Vegetable substances and animal-hair curled, heated, rubbed Or ironed 2O and thereby polished, and set or fixed in the curled form, as a new article of manufacture for upholstery purposes.

JOHN GEORGE srnrHENs.

Vitnesses:

W. J. MORGAN, S. H. MORGAN. 

